London Fashion Week’s Front Rows Are Way Different, Grungier Than New York’sToday marks the third day of London Fashion Week, and we’re already envious of the front rows there. The celebrities look like they came from the “They’re just like us” section of Us Weekly rather than the centerfolds of Vogue. Somehow, it just felt awkward to see celebrities in full-on red-carpet attire at 11 a.m in New York. (Think how you’d feel if your cubicle neighbor showed up dressed for Socialista rather than work.) But London is different, according to the Times.

Back of the House2/12/2008

Jay Rayner Paints the New York Restaurant World in a Few Broad StrokesThe Man Who Ate the World, British restaurant critic Jay Rayner’s tour of the planet’s great restaurant cities will be coming out soon, as Gawker noted yesterday. Its piece lingered over Super Mario’s latest profanity-laced anti-blogger tirade, which was almost as enjoyable as his last one. But having read the New York chapter, we were hit by how much other good stuff was in it.

Out-of-Town Mixologists Will Show Us a Little Thing or TwoPhilip Ward, head barkeep at Death & Co., is hoping to broaden the relatively small world of Manhattan mixology by launching a bartender exchange program that he says is the first of its kind. This week the bar welcomes Kirk Estopinal from Chicago’s the Violet Hour, who brings to the bartop his own house-made bitters and a little something known as a “black lime,” wherein a lime is cooked in salt water, dehydrated, and zested into a drink such as a tea punch. (Let’s hope someone has told the out-of-towner to glove up before handling the lime — the Health Department is watching.) Next month Ward swaps duties with a bartender at Alembic, a San Francisco favorite, and the following month a mixologist from London cocktail mecca the Lonsdale will cross the pond. If you can think of any other mixologists who’d be an asset to Death & Co. (and who are based in cities its bartenders might actually want to travel to), do name them in the comments.

The Army Occupies East 103rd Street; Residents DispleasedEast Harlem: There’s outrage over a new Army recruiting center on East 103rd Street, on the heels of Army promo teams here this summer that included gals in camo midriffs and short shorts. [NY Latino Journal]
Jackson Heights: Starbucks is here! Gentrification officially begins! [Curbed]
Northwest Bronx: So many parks are being repaired here that there’s no place for the massive youth baseball league to play this spring! [Norwood News]

Video: Undercover Braids at Carmen Marc ValvoHow do you get your hair to look like the models at Carmen Marc Valvo? It’s complicated  you’ll definitely need another set of hands (or two). New York’s beauty and market editor Aja Mangum took our cameras backstage to learn the secret from stylist Odile Gilbert.